10072015Wed
Last updateFri, 02 Oct 2015 1pm

Stately makeover of city’s restaurant row nears close

You wouldn’t know it by looking at the mounds of dirt and tangles of exposed conduits, but the one-kilometer stretch of street reconstruction, which extends from Avenida Chapultepec to Gamboa along the famed “restaurant alley” of Lopez Cotilla, is in the home stretch.

“It’s ahead of schedule,” said Moroccan restaurant owner Fouad Lakhdar confidently. A chef with a strong interest in design and construction, he has been cheerfully spearheading the local business group that is negotiating with the Jalisco authorities on the reconstruction project.

Although not all of the 211 business owners affected are nearly as positive as Lakhdar, his enthusiasm is contagious. 

“It should be finished September 30 and they’re ahead of schedule,” he said in Spanish honed during the decade or so he has resided in Mexico. He offers a peek at the architectural plans and drawings he keeps in a notebook. 

“Look. There’s a nice pedestrian walkway and lots of garden space in front of every building. They have already bought 160 primaveras amarillas,” he added, showing a photo of the stunning yellow-flowering tree. “They’re native to Jalisco. They grow tall so they don’t hide the businesses and their roots don’t affect the sidewalk.

“There will be two curving car lanes with speed bumps, so vehicles won’t be able to go more than 30 kilometers per hour. Bicycles have a lane too. They installed a storm drain inlet in every block and separated storm drains from sewers. All cables will be underground. Parking will be on nearby streets and by valet.”

Lakhdar’s enthusiasm is occasionally dampened by the reaction of some neighbors. “Some of the owners don’t want trees. How can anyone not want trees, with the air pollution we have?” 

Indeed, some business owners express near panic about the sharp decline in clients since construction began July 1.

“Our sales are down between 60 and 70 percent,” lamented Rakesh Lohan, part owner of the established, Indian restaurant Goa. “We’ve reduced our hours and staff as well as our electricity and water use, because we’re not making money.

“The government didn’t ask our consent for this project. We only heard about it one week before July 1. Somebody stopped by with a paper and a waiter signed it. All the businesses are against it,” he said, although he admitted the results should be good. “They say it will bring more tourism.”

“The plan is good, but the reality at the moment is bad,” agreed Manuel Barra, who manages the established Spanish restaurant Riscal, which has even incurred a little damage to its peripheral walls from the construction. 

“Nobody can get to us,” he complained, adding that Riscal put signs in the neighborhood, trying to ease access for their regular customers. 

The boutique hotel Villa Ganz, rated number one in Guadalajara on tripadvisor.com, is having guests park around the corner. It is also suffering a separate, huge construction project right next door. Currently, guests who emerge from the hotel must pick their way across a forbidding landscape in order to see other parts of the city.

Even Lakhdar admitted that customers currently have great difficulty navigating the holes and upturned terrain to access Morocco Kebab, especially at night, and that his sales are way down. But he stressed that none of the businesses, which comprise hotels, banks, bookstores, insurance companies, coffee shops, bars and many restaurants, including three – Allium, La Moresca and Entre 2 – that are among the best-rated on tripadvisor.com, have closed.

“We have to be aware of the necessity of sacrifice. As citizens, we want it to be better.”

Some establishments, such as the top-rated restaurant Allium, have taken advantage of the chaos to undertake their own improvements. Others attend weekly Thursday meetings, the last one at the office of Guadalajara mayor Ramiro Hernandez, in order to air complaints and make requests.

“We went to two or three meetings and asked the government if they would help us financially. There’s a rumor they might, but it’s not at all certain,” said Goa’s Lohan.

“When the project is finished, we hope to have a big inaugural celebration for the whole area, with discounts for customers,” said Morocco Kebab’s Lakhdar, serene as always.

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